Columns > Randy Ray - Peaches En Randalia

LSD-40: Better Living Thru History

Peaches En Randalia #8For Lou Reed, William Strunk and E.B. White who said, Get to the point, dumb ass.
No, fraid not. There isnt a new recipe called LSD-40 to usurp the Sandoz LSD-25 Garden of Eden variety. This month marks the 40th anniversary of LSDs criminalization. October also marks the occasion when Phil Lesh releases his first solo DVDthe bassist and friends at San Franciscos Warfield Theatre. I was at the second night of the run, which will be featured on the DVD, CD or both. Overall? Strong shows that probably will translate well to tape. This is Phil Lesh; hopefully, a slam dunk is in order.
Ironically, what ties this subtle column together is that one of the gigs featured the incident where a friend of mineunbeknownst to my normal whiskey-drinking selfhad, perhaps, dropped something a little more potent down his gullet, jumped the balcony and landed on a few concert goersinjuring them while a fibula was broken in his leg.
Sothe lesson for today after 40 years of post-October 1966 LSD=PRISON hoopla? Well, history was, is and never will be that simple. Existentialism demands that one find ones own empirical pathergo (no pun intended on the ergot derivation) cause and effect always plays a factor. I neither condone nor condemn chemical explorationchoosing, instead, to just say know about urban legends, scientific facts, historical evidence and the beautiful and long line of inherited DNA. Indeed, I have polluted my own water supply, as can be the misfortune of the wandering soul. For initial investigation into the complex history of psychedelics, please consider restraint and:
Books: – Acid Dreams by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain – Psychedelics Encyclopedia by Peter Stafford – Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna – The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot
Films: – 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick – Head directed by Bob Rafelson – Solaris directed by Andrei Tarkovsky – Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Music: – The Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd – Odyssey and Oracle by the Zombies – Live/Dead by the Grateful Dead – Zeit by Tangerine Dream – Randy Ray stores his work at www.rmrcompany.blogspot.com.